Drunks and addicts 'sleeping in tombs'

Drunks are pushing the lids off tombs at a Cambridge cemetery to sleep inside them.

Horrified people living close to the graveyard have also reported seeing drug-addicts injecting themselves while sat in graves.

Police revealed the full impact of street drinking on the Petersfield neighbourhood in their bid to ban alcohol sales at a shop which they claim is a “soft touch” on liquor sales and a magnet for troublemakers – News and More in Norfolk Street.

Officers said problems started at the store and spread out into the surrounding area, including to Mill Road cemetery, which is plagued by drunkenness, littering, defecating and drug abuse, and can be accessed via an alleyway opposite the newsagent.

In a statement, Pc Alan Tregilgas said: “It is not unusual to find drunken persons sleeping in this area and in some cases tombstone lids have been pushed off so they can sleep inside them.

“One resident said she was shocked when she saw a male sitting on a grave with his trousers down injecting himself in his thigh in full view of everyone.”

In a first for the city’s force, officers have drawn up a dossier of evidence to support a request to revoke News and More’s licence, and this will be determined by councillors on Monday, January 7.

In the file, police and residents allege street drinkers frequent Norfolk Street itself from 8.30am, intimidating pupils at St Matthew’s Primary School by drinking, vomiting, urinating and begging, and by letting dogs run free.

Evidence about News and More include claims that:

Staff opened the door of a fridge containing alcohol for two men who were too drunk to do so themselves, and then sold liquor to the pair;

A drunk man asked for directions to the shop because he said “it was the only place he would get served”;

The store is seen as a “soft touch” by people determined to get alcohol, whatever state they are in; and

A binge drinker died hours after being served alcohol there, having been refused liquor at another nearby newsagent because he looked sick.

Pc Peter Sinclair, the force’s licensing officer, said he believed owner Shailesh Patel was “knowingly breaching” licensing rules by serving drunks and that there was a “causal link” between sales at the shop and disorder.

He said advice given on numerous occasions “appeared to have fallen on deaf ears” and that the Patels “have by their behaviour treated the law-abiding residents in the area with utter contempt”.

However, the Patels have won support from customers, 39 of whom have written letters calling for the licence to remain in place – plus 112 who signed a petition.

They claim the Patels are careful about who they sell alcohol to and that it would be unfair to single out News and More when street drinking was a citywide problem.

Mr Patel said he had voluntarily stopped selling super-strength alcohol and that he had “tried his best” to prevent problems.

13 comments

It is an absolute shame that a graveyard is being used for drug taking and drinking and its related paraphenalia is being discarded there. As a lifetime resident of Cambridge I know all to well that it is not just the 'homeless' or 'street life' community (as PC ***** calls them) that congregate here- there are also young people who get drunk there in the day/night and people from my university even have BBQs there in the central green. If the homeless people did this it would be seen as disrespectful but as they are students it is not, even though they too urinate (usually in plain view of others) and chuck beer cans in the bushes and leave their rubbish. It is not nice for residents I understand but are we HONESTLY supposed to believe homeless people are opening old tombs, then climbing in like vampires and closing the lid over themselves to keep out the elements? Sorry, but the damage to the tombs are most likely the result of young thugs doing it for a laugh rather than the homeless trying to find a dry spot for the night. It makes no sense at all; unless they closed the tomb on top of them, what would be the point of even doing that in the first place, it wouldnt protect you from the elements. A bit far fetched if you ask me.

I dont think that it is the genuine homeless that are the problem here. There is an element of "brew crew" culture in Cambridge where people who choose to beg come from all over Britain and get put up in the likes of 222 Victoria Rd or the doss house in Willow Walk. I have worked in each of these places and volunterered at Jimmys and the problem is with Jimmys but with the council not putting the "brew crew" through rehab. At the moment if one wants to move to Cambridge and beg dring and do drugs they are put up in hostels. The problem at the cemetry may seem worse at the moment and that is because 222 is being refurbished. I think that if people want to chooswe this lifestyle then they have to be in their own manor. Cambridge hostels should only deal with Cambridge people. If someone turned up at Jimmys blind drunk they would not gt in.

These homeless have been known to sleep in the public toilets, I believe the council is on top of this, and will get these people removed if discovered but they are also abusing these toilets mainly disabled ones to.

As a person living in close proximity of this mess, I can only see it getting worse. The fear and worry caused by the acute levels of threat and abuse by the drunken and violent addicts on their route from Jimmy's and the no-go area of Vicarage Terrace and the needle strewn garages at the foot of Edward Street make this once pleasant part of Cambridge a place where it's now un-advisable to venture out after dark. I am tired of being hassled daily on my way to and from work. If we could afford to move, we would. A summer spent trying to tell a 5 year old that its best to not bike near the 'angry men' that roar their heads off high or drunk down our street is a disgrace. But nobody cares about this area and Sir Tory Whatshisname just wants to make Cambridge a place safe from rogue cyclists for the tourists. He evidently doesn't give a damn about the people who actually live here.

It is quite shocking that they sleep in tombs - it suggests that they have completely lost touch with societal norms. The sad fact is that with government cuts in welfare and community services we can expect more of this kind of thing. Society is run in a way that will constantly produce people who aren't coping and end up homeless and/or addicted to drugs. Now we're dismantling the safety net it can only get worse.
I think it's very unfair to point the finger at the Patels. Anyone who walks around the city knows that the drunks and addicts move around quite a bit and congregate in a number of different parks and cemeteries at different times. They have access to booze in many places, and the Patels are *not* selling them drugs to inject. The Norfolk St shops cater to local residents.

For years the residents and shop owners of Mill Road were far too tolerant of street drinkers, and many (including Lib Dem councillors, David Howarth and Winter Fair organisers) opposed the use if ASBOs to deal with the problem. The current situation is an inevitable consequence of years of wilful inaction and encouragement.

@Cliffhanger, you are forgetting that dealing with 'these people' will not solve the problem as long as people like the Patel's continue to provide them with alcohol, when they are clearly already intoxicated. Furthermore, the shop will still be there - its merely the alcohol licence which the police want removed.

Here is a story about people so down on their luck, that their day consists of a mixture of drugs and alcohol, followed by sleeping in a grave yard. It attracts just 3 comments. Also published today is an article about the police targeting cyclists. That article has 60 comments so far. Does that say something about society? Are we really more concerned about someone riding without lights or whatever so called crime they are committing?